Repose
by Katherine W
Summary: What do you do when the silence is so stifling you choke on it and the only person who can make it go away... can't? Angst angst angst... then fluff SasuNaru, shounenai.


Notes: This can be read as a sequel to 'Variables', or as a stand-alone. Whichever you want. It's still in basically the same divergence universe, but there's no refrence to the last story so... Meh, whatever. I didn't say anything about a specific time in space here, like I did in 'Variables' so they can be as old/young as you want. However I do say boys, so...shrugs wvr x2

Repose

Since that night so long ago he'd never wanted to want someone to wake up so _badly_ ever again. It confused and enraged him that he _did_ want it-- wanted it more than he wanted his next breath, wanted him to wake the fuck _up_ because... because...

Because wasn't important.

This want... it wasn't really even a want so much as it was a physical need so strong he couldn't breathe without feeling like he was going to heave. This _need_ to hear that obnoxiously cheerful whine, to feel that resentful glare that the other reserved just for him, to see those eyes that were such a bright, blinding blue that they were almost, _almost_, hard to look at.

He'd gone eight days, thirteen hours, and forty-seven minutes without seeing those eyes. Without feeling the prickle of that glare on the back of his neck; without the inane chatter. And he'd gone all that time without the smile that seemed to make everything else shine brighter for it.

Uchiha Sasuke was slowly losing what was left of his sanity.

He had scarcely left Naruto's side since the boy had fallen, and snarled at anyone who suggested he do so. The smart ones had given up fairly quickly. The others... well one young blond nurse had been seen running from the room in tears on the fifth day. That put an end to the 'others'. He stayed out of Tsunade and the nurses' way when they came and no one said anything anymore. It was a workable arrangement. Kakashi-sensei brought him a change of clothes every day and he showered in the adjoining bathroom. That was the furthest away from his best friend he'd been in eight days, thirteen hours, and...

Forty-eight minutes.

When he slept it was awkward and fitful, usually with his head on his arms, which he folded on the bed, and flashbacks haunting his dreams.

_'Wake up wake up wake up wakeup wakeupwakeupwakeupgoddammitWAKEUP!'_

It seemed like forever since there had been any sound other than the steady beep of the heart monitor and the ticking of the wall clock.

Forty-nine minutes...

The silence was so deafening, it was hardly a surprise that a mere gentle knock on the door was all it took to startle the dark haired boy enough to make him jump. However, by the time the person on the other side stepped through, he had composed himself sufficiently and was once again staring down at the still form under the regulation white hospital sheets. It occured to him that they didn't look nearly warm enough, perhaps he should demand a something a bit heavier...?

"Sasuke-kun?" The voice was soft. Hesitant. Visiting hours were about to end.

Sakura was certain she looked only slightly self-conscious, but if she were honest, she felt the tension acutely. Sasuke had been even colder these past days; to her and everyone else. She hadn't realized how accustomed she'd become to his and Naruto's banter until it was gone. She missed it. She missed seeing Sasuke look like he could actually _feel_. It made her wonder if the blond lying there was the only one who could _make_ him feel.

For a bit longer she stood there, staring worriedly at her crush, who had yet to acknowledge her presence. She walked around to get a glimpse of his profile. There were dark circles under his eyes and he was even paler than usual. Despite his bored expression (which hadn't changed in the slightest) if anyone were to look closely, the signs of exhaustion were all too apparent. As was the worry in the faint furrow of his brow.

With no small amount of jealousy, Sakura wondered if he would have run himself through the wringer like this if it were her lying on that hospital bed. That question, and moreso, the answer, was something she didn't care to dwell on.

Clutching her offering in a white knuckled grip, she tried again, this time firmer and injecting a certain amount of false cheerfulness in to her voice. "Sasuke-kun, I brought you some things I thought you might need," After all it was the only thing she really _could_ do. She'd given up trying to get him to leave after the third day.

No response.

Fifty-one minutes

Sakura plowed on, somewhat taking on the role that their inert team mate would usually be playing. She indicated the large paper bag she was holding. "Kakashi-sensei went to your place and got some-more clothes and stuff for you. I know he usually brings them but he said he had something important to do. I wonder what it was? Oh, well," She set the sack down at the foot of the bed and began pulling items from it. "I know you haven't been eating properly so I made some onigiri for you. I'm not that great a cook but I can definitely make that at least! They even turned out kinda pretty...

"Ino-pig says hi by the way, though I don't really know why I told you that." The pink-haired girl scowled fearsomely. "Oh, and Mom keeps asking me why I come here. I told her it was for you of course, so you wouldn't starve. I don't think she likes the idea of me spending so much time at a hospital. She'll freak when she finds out I want to become a medic-nin. Say, Sasuke-kun, do you think...?"

Sasuke tuned her out and let her continue with her nonsensical babbling. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he failed to realize it had got quiet again a moment or two later. At least until a small sound of amusement escaped the girl to his right. Reluctantly he pried his eyes from his rival and turned his head to face her. His blank look was only slightly softened with inquiry.

"How does he do it?" She elaborated when she saw that the love of her life's attention had shifted to her.

The tone of awe in her voice confused Sasuke so much that the question spilled out before he was aware it had even formed. "Do what?"

"How does he keep talking and talking and talking about nothing in particular and never run out of things to say? For hours on end. I started struggling after the onigiri," There was a wry kind of humor in her eyes, and she grinned a little.

For a second, maybe even two, Sakura thought she saw the same sad amusement flash in his obsidian depths, and she could definitely see the upward tilt at the corner of his mouth, even when he turned away again. She wasn't expecting an answer. What she got surpassed even that.

"I think it must be... all those years when he had only himself to talk to.When he was the only person who would listen. He must have hated the quiet because it just made it more of a reality that he was alone. Now that he's not alone anymore he talks all the time because the silence is so much more unbearable when there are people around. I think reminds him of the lonely time before. So he talks to make it...to make the quiet go away. No one ever... They didn't..." He struggled to articulate what he wanted to say for a moment before giving up with a sigh. For some things, there simply weren't any correct words to explain.

_'You were the only one who knew how oppressive the quiet was, you knew that I hated it too. Somehow you knew and when you were around you never let it near us, not even close. I never had to ask, you just _knew_ and kept it from closing in...'_

"But he _sees_ so much. And in the simplest things, too, and it might seem stupid to you but he has to say something about what he sees or he's afraid he'll be overlooked. He's afraid that if he doesn't _say_ anything no one will pay attention. And when they don't pay attention it gets quiet again, and he can't _stand_ it..." He trailed off with a strangled choking sound.

_'**I** can't stand it anymore, Naruto make it go away...'_

Fifty-four minutes.

Sasuke's face burned for revealing such things. He cleared his throat and didn't say anything else until he thought his voice would sound normal again. When he did it was laced with strain, "We're nothing alike. Nothing at all. Stupid dobe... It was his loud mouth that got him into this in the first place, and now..."

_'And now it's too quiet and you're not here and wake up Naruto if you would just wake up and _say_ something...'_

Fifty-five minutes.

Sakura had tears running down her face, unchecked and unnoticed. What was this...? Never before had she witnessed such strong emotions from her usually insentient team mate. To react in such an un-Sasuke-like way... He really cared for Naruto.

And Sakura was ashamed, very ashamed, because the most prominent feeling in her own heart was envy. She was envious of the blond because, even comatose, he had Sasuke's undivided attention. Yes, she considered herself lucky to be the dark boy's team mate and even--dare she say?-- friend. Yes they were all friends by now.

But those two knew each other so _well. _The way Sasuke had talked just now, it was so clear. He knew the other boy inside and out, and Sakura had no doubt that Naruto was the same way. She'd _seen_ it. Seen it in the way they would automatically know what the other was thinking with a single word or sometimes no words at all. In the casual touches and absent adjustments to one another's clothing, made all the more intimate for all they didn't even seem to realize they were doing it. And the kunoichi saw it in the way they seemed to _balance _together consumately without a single hitch or flaw; one always completing the other's movements at precisely the time it was needed. She couldn't remember a single time their team work had failed on a mission.

What must it be like to know someone like that? For every motion to be an automatic complement to the other's and it be so _natural_? How could she compete with that? The unembellished _truth_ was she barely even registered on Sasuke's radar and she knew it. So then how could she find a way to compete with someone who was not only his team mate, his rival, _and _his best friend--but was essentially his other half? How could she even come _close_?

Another truth was she simply couldn't.

Fifty-seven minutes.

Sakura didn't let the sobs overtake her until she was past the nurses' desk.

Sasuke was only dimly aware that she'd left. He was looking at a still, pale right hand, willing it to move. To make a fist. To _something..._

_'Wake up...'_

Tick tick tick beep tick tick tick beep...

Fifty-eight minutes. Fifty-nine.

_'Please...'_

A splash on his clenched hand. He touched his face with wonder, felt the moisture there. Tears...

_'Wake up...'_

He was crying.

_'Please... Please just wake up...'_

"S...ke?"

The hand moved. The head turned. The blue eyes were glazed over and heavy from sleep.

But they were open. After eight days and fourteen hours they were finally open.

"Sasuke, teme? Wha--oomf!"

Sasuke tackled the struggling-to-rise blond back to his prone position. He wrapped his arms vicelike around the thin torso. It was awkward-- he was half on, half off the small hospital bed. But his elation was so great, he didn't care. He didn't care about anything except that Naruto was awake and _talking. _He could already feel that dark stillness receding.

_'No more silence. No more...'_

And Sasuke kissed him. Kissed him for all he was worth, pouring out everything he had been feeling these last days, and now utter relief into that kiss. Then...

Naruto kissed back.

When he finally pulled away and looked down into that bluest blue gaze he was understandably smug to see it at only half-mast and those thoroughly-kissed looking lips parted invitingly. He pressed his mouth to them again, this time far more chastely, then again to the sun-kissed hair covering his forehead.

He hoisted himself the rest of the way onto the bed and pulled the thin blankets around them.

"Sasuke, wha--?"

"Shhh. Waiting for you was exhausting, dobe. I'm going to sleep." He pulled the smaller boy tightly against him, spoon-style. One of his last thoughts before sleep overtook him was that he had been wrong--the hospital covers were much warmer than they looked.

_'Thank you for waking up...'_

Naruto followed his companion into slumberland soon after.

By morning, the younger of the two had managed to turn over, and had his left arm slung over the other, who was embracing him closely, even in sleep.

When the nurses discovered them they had a whispered, but nonetheless heated, debate over whether or not they should separate the two. The larger of the two boys rose up slightly and glared at the women sleepily.

The nurses unanimously decided against it.

Owari...

More Notes:

Was the kiss overkill? I sorta thought it might be but I'm wasn't sure; it was actually one of the many things I added once the bones and flesh of the story were in place.And yeah, yeah, I know it was garbled and borderline inarticulate at times, but surprisingly I'm pretty satisfied with it.

I was intentionally obscure about the reason for Naruto's coma because, well, I couldn't really think of a good reason. ,... It can be whatever you want.

I am not a Sakura hater and this was not meant to bash her in any way! I actually like her alot (LeeSaku 4eva!) I just don't like that silly obsession she has with Sasuke. It's actually a little scary --, --sweatdrop

And lastly, on a somewhat unrelated topic... is the dub getting on anyone elses nerves? Don't get me wrong, I actually kinda like it and think it's sorta cute. Except for one itty-bitty thing... EVERY TIME NARUTO SAYS 'BELIEVE IT' I WANT TO **_SCREAM_**! breathes heavily while veins pop out all over her headThat is all.


End file.
